Stocks and Shares ISA continues to drop value - should I do anything?

GSS12

Hi All,
I have a Stocks and Shares ISA, which I've had for 6 years now.

It was valued at £16,400 but I've noticed over the last few year it's tumbled to £15,300. Maybe due to brexit, or other things such as Trump's presidency.

My concern is this will continue to tumble and I should take my money out of the ISA and place somewhere else. Any thoughts?

bowlhead99

What is the ISA invested in? Falling from 16400 to 15300(7%) here and there is no big deal, and many ISA portfolios will have gone both up and down by some percentage in excess of 7%, on more than one occasion this year alone.

However, you have mentioned that the loss is a tumble over "the last few year". The vast majority of investment portfolios today will be up rather than down against what they were valued at two to three years ago. For example if I look on the trustnet.com website, I can list about 2,720 different investment funds which have a track record of 3 years or longer. Of those, over 2,640 have a positive return over the last three years! There are a scant few which lost money, but they would all be niche specialist ones.

There are some asset types that are down 10% in the last 2-3 months (e.g.certain government bonds) but they would be up overall over two to three years, and it would be a bit crazy to have all of your money just in one type of investment anyway.

bigfreddiel

You should be buying not selling. Everything's at a discount now, bit like the January sales

Cheers fj

dunstonh

It was valued at £16,400 but I've noticed over the last few year it's tumbled to £15,300.

£16.4k to £15.3k is not a tumble. Its a small decline.

Have you had a recent valuation or are you still relying on early part of the year valuations?
Are you making regular withdrawals or taking the income distributions?

Maybe due to brexit, or other things such as Trump's presidency.

Referendum saw most areas increase in value quite significantly. Although bonds have fallen back. Trump saw no real noticeable gain or losses.

GSS12

Hi All,
Sorry I made a typo, the value lost was between summer (brexit period) to now. During the brexit period, the ISA went up really.

I don't withdraw, it's rainy day money really. And early part of the year valuations.

bigfreddiel

I think Dunsty is just making a joke, I can't imagine anyone would be using a small portfolio for regular income withdrawals.

My tip, buy more, it's all at a discount now.

Cheers fj

lisyloo

GSS12 wrote: »

Hi All,
Sorry I made a typo, the value lost was between summer (brexit period) to now. During the brexit period, the ISA went up really.

I don't withdraw, it's rainy day money really. And early part of the year valuations.

So you're looking at short term volatility.
Stocks and shares can be quite volatile depending on what you've chosen.
You should look at the performance over longer periods I.e. How has it performed over 6 years.
If your happy with the funds then don't worry about short term falls.
it's what happens and if you dont like it then it's not the right investment for you.
Perhaps it's time to review your funds choices and whether it now suits your goals? But in the face of it nothing to worry about.

Primrose

How old are you?
Is this money you are putting away for retirement and how far away is that?
I!ve had money in stocks and shares ISAs for many years and have been invested through several market recessions now. The first one is scary and depressing. The second one is somewhat less so. After a few years you gradually learn that you simply have to go with the flow and stop fretting and panicking.. What goes down goes up again eventually. Make sure you have your emergency money stashed away somewhere in pure cash deposits. If you really can't cope with the anxiety of swings and roundabouts in the stock market you are probably better not being in it at all.
The next few Brexit years will definitely bring uncertain times. If you are invested in hopefully reliable funds across a wide spectrum and can afford to remain invested that is what you should probably do. We'Re in the same boat here. Nobody has a crystal ball unfortunately.

In any case, you ask where else could you put your money. If you don,t want to lose the tax free status the only other option is probably to transfer it to a cash ISA and these are paying. virtually no interest at all.

Superscrooge

GSS12 wrote: »

Hi All,
Sorry I made a typo, the value lost was between summer (brexit period) to now. During the brexit period, the ISA went up really.

I don't withdraw, it's rainy day money really. And early part of the year valuations.

This is what equity investments do. Some months they go up, Some months they go down. Whilst there are no guarantees, equity investments usually outperform cash investments over the long term.

Stock markets have generally declined over the last couple of months, Many investors have seen valuations decline recently. But prior to this equities had risen quite substantially.

If you are investing long term and the investment still suits your risk profile, then stick with it.

MONEYTREE_2

Buy MORE? But they are still on their way down Freddie!

Covetous_Jew

Hi All,

would you mind sharing which magazines/newspapers/website give the best tips for picking shares? This is a first time I am considering investing since from the begining of 2017 interest rates will be dramatically reduced due to cut in Bank of England rate. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.